


A Day in the Sun

by Cherith



Category: The Wild Swans (Fairy Tale)
Genre: Fairy Tales, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 19:31:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherith/pseuds/Cherith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elisa spends an afternoon with the youngest of her eleven brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day in the Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lady Sarai (lady_sarai)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_sarai/gifts).



> I badly wanted to write a Fairytale story for Yuletide, and I'm so glad I got the chance. I'm big on little moments in time, and knew that if I tried to write the whole story, I was going to lose the specialness of the original tale. So I opted for a snippet of the story that I think really shows the close relationship between Elisa and her brothers.

The waves flowed onto the shore with a kind of delicate purposefulness that Elisa was sure she had not ever seen before. She and her brother stared out at the waves, safe on the sand and basking in the sunlight. Only he, out of the eleven of her brothers, had stayed behind this morning. And, despite their communication difficulties, she'd been happy to see him beside her. The smile she'd worn upon seeing him, was persistent, as she enjoyed her morning at his side. He'd picked fresh berries for her breakfast, and she tried to carry on a conversation with him while she ate. But it wasn't long before she realized that she didn't have many more stories to share, that she hadn't already told the night before. When she found she had little more to say, she was content to watch the waves, enjoy the sun on her skin, and her brother at her side.

They were close enough in age, she and her brother, that there was a quiet comfortableness between them and they carried on well enough without any words. She did wonder what their other brothers were getting up to throughout the day, but didn't ask because she knew he wouldn't be able to tell her. For a while she slipped off her dirty and worn shoes and dug her toes down into the sand. She drew circles and flowers into the sand her her fingers and toes, and her brother tried to do the same with his talons and wings. As the sun rose to its peak in the afternoon, and the air became much warmer, her brother stretched out a long, white wing to shade her from the harsh rays. She gave him a bright smile and told him how much she appreciated his thoughtfulness. He only lowered his long neck in a mock bow, his beak grazing the sand before he raised it again, as a reply.

As the day wore on, she emptied the contents of her dress pocket, finding the stone she had gathered from the river the day before. Aside from dirt and dust from her travels to find this place, there was also a small needle, a bit of thread, and the feathers she'd found on the shore - one from each of her brothers. The feathers had all dried, and after she laid each them on the sand next to her, ordered by size, she gathered up her skirt so she could comfortably reach the hem of it. Once she had also threaded her needle, she picked up one feather at a time and carefully sewed each feather to her dress. She attached them along the seam starting near her knees, and worked towards the bottom. She hummed while she sewed and occasionally her brother would tap a foot, or a wing in a beat to accompany her voice. When she sewed the last feather to the hem of her dress she ran a finger down to feel the softness and smiled. This way, she knew no matter what happened, she would always have her brothers with her.

When twilight approached, the rest Elisa's brothers returned to their small campfire near the shore. And as each of them flew down to touch the ground, they returned to their human forms, the youngest brother at her side, being the last to change. He remained at her side through his transformation, and when she sees his smiling face, she returned it with a hug. The twelve of them sit down to have dinner: fish with several items foraged from the forest. They talked over dinner, Elisa being very curious about their journey during the day. After, the eldest of her brothers asked Elisa if she'd like to accompany them the next day. They planned to fly home, across the ocean, to the new land where they were far from their father's kingdom, but accepted in their shifting forms. Elisa agreed with enthusiasm, and as they cleared away the remnants of dinner they devised a method for the eleven of them to carry her across the ocean. Many of the older brothers claimed their beaks would be strong enough to carry her if she was in a blanket, or net. After a lengthy discussion about what could be used to carry her, she and her brothers spent the rest of the evening and early morning gathering and weaving rushes into a net. Eventually, they were able to get a little rest until the sun rose and her brothers were again turned into their beautiful swan forms.

After gently nudging her awake, they helped her into the net they had finished only a few hours before. She laid down once more so they might pick up the net to carry her. The net of woven rushes proved strong and her brothers gently lifted her net into the sky. Her brothers gained quite a height as they flew, and Elisa found she could not watch the ground. She tried to sleep, but the warm sun shone too brightly on her face. She lifted an arm to shade herself from the sun, but after a moment there was a shadow fell over her. She looked up to see the smaller form she recognized as the youngest of her brothers blocking the sun for her. She smiled up at him, then turned her head and closed her eyes to sleep. As she drifted off, she remembered their perfect afternoon together the previous day. The image of her brother held behind her eyes and the smile remained on her face even as she slept.

It was a long flight, and Elisa woke and drifted back to sleep several times, each time carefully avoiding the view down to the ocean. It was very late in the day when her brothers began their decent. Each of them pulled to a soft stop so her net could land gently. Elisa thought her brothers swan forms were beautiful, but as she watched them change once more to their human forms, she made a promise to herself. She wanted to do whatever was in her power to help her brothers returned permanently to themselves. It had only been by accident that she had followed the river to the sea after the old woman on the road had told her about the eleven swans two days before. In her mind, she thanked that woman for her direction, and prayed for more good luck so far from home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the community at [Brigits_Flame](http://community.livejournal.com/brigits_flame) for editing and feedback help.
> 
> I used the translation of "The Wild Swans" by [ Jean Hersholt](http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheWildSwans_e.html) for reference.


End file.
